(3/4)
“I just can’t understand this….”
Lying on his bed, Hyunseung was having a staring contest with his phone screen.
“No, why is there no reply?”
He was not the type to get anxious over most things, but right now he was so on edge his chest felt like it was pounding.
No wonder, really, since not only Paul but even Austin had been continuously dodging his attempts to contact them.
They said they were looking for him, so he said he would answer the call. He had even gone as far as proposing to distribute a collaboration with Mateo….
How could there be no response?
Just as Hyunseung was ruffling his hair in utter incomprehension—
“Oppa!”
Hyuna suddenly burst into the room, swinging the door open.
“Aren’t you going to pack?”
She quickly scanned the room and asked in a frustrated tone.
Right. They were moving in just a week, and not a single change of clothes had been sorted.
“I’ll pack the day before.”
“As usual, I’m the only one actually moving!”
As if she found her brother’s laid-back attitude intolerable, Hyuna thumped her fist against her chest.
“Then you’d better have everything packed before you go to bed the day before we move!”
“Okay, okay, enough nagging.”
“It’s not nagging, it’s because it’ll be easier if you do it in advance.”
When he nodded half-heartedly and waved her off, saying he got it,
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, now go.”
“So where exactly are we moving to?”
“We’re going somewhere nice, so just go.”
“Why won’t you tell me where we’re going?”
“It’s a secret, so go.”
Seriously, he wasn’t even a chatbot….
“Oppa!”
Hyuna frowned and shouted.
“Why do you keep telling me to go?”
“Why?”
“There you go again, bratty little Min.”
“So you say.”
Realizing that the more she snapped, the more she would just exhaust herself, Hyuna forced herself to speak calmly.
“Stop fooling around. I’m trying to hang a family photo this time, but I don’t know what size frame to get. I was going to order it tonight before bed.”
“The new place is a little bigger than here, so just decide on your own.”
But once her hurt feelings had started spilling out, they just kept flowing.
“How can you say something so irresponsible?”
“Huh? What is?”
“Once you hang a family photo, it stays there for a long time.”
“You’re paying for it though.”
“Money isn’t everything, you idiot!”
“What exactly is the problem?”
“I’m the idiot for trying to prepare a present thinking of you.”
In the end, Hyuna turned away sharply, pouting.
How could two people who came from the same womb be so different in temperament?
“What present?”
“Forget it.”
“So difficult, seriously.”
The siblings simply could not understand each other.
For a moment, a stiff air settled between them.
Then Hyunseung issued a dismissal order to his sister, who was still standing awkwardly in the doorway.
“I’ve got some things to think about right now, so let’s talk about the family photo tomorrow. For now, go to your room.”
At that, Hyuna stared at him, eyes half narrowed.
“Oppa.”
“What now.”
She suddenly asked in a prim tone.
“But are you really not anything with Sarah unnie?”
Honestly, he had lost count of how many times she had asked. If you counted the times by text as well, it was probably around a hundred.
Even their father, when going out and coming back, kept pretending it was nothing and asking whether that misutgaru girl wasn’t coming over to visit sometime.
Seriously.
What on earth did they like so much about that weirdo that they were like this?
“You and Dad both act like you’d really like there to be something between me and Sarah Stewart, you know that?”
“It’s not that I want there to be something, it’s just that since there was a dating rumor, I’m curious as your little sister.”
“I’ll say it again, we’re nothing. Composer and singer, performer and instrument, that’s about it.”
At his words, his little sister asked back in horror.
“Don’t tell me you said the same thing to Sarah unnie, that you and she were just performer and instrument?”
“I did call her an instrument at one point.”
“Oh my God, that must have hurt her. Oppa, isn’t that really too much? Calling a person an instrument.”
“No, I call everyone an instrument….”
“If it were me, I’d never date someone like you either. Right? Sarah unnie is way more of a catch.”
With a snort like he found it absurd, Hyunseung blew air through his nose.
No, if anyone’s the catch, it’s me.
If he dated that weirdo, the family business might go under thanks to misutgaru….
“Sarah unnie invited our family to her concert thinking of us, and she even prepared a stage for Dad. Oppa, you can’t treat her like that!”
“Whose side are you even on right now…”
“That’s not all! She keeps posting on SNS to promote the song you made for her, and she does challenges too!”
As if his ears hurt, Hyunseung had been covering them with his hands, when he suddenly sprang to his feet and shouted,
“SNS!”
“Ah, you scared me! What about SNS?”
“Thank you, little sister.”
“Why are you being creepy all of a sudden, Oppa?”
“I’ll transfer you some allowance.”
Before long, smiles spread across the siblings’ faces.
“I love you, dear brother.”
“SNS…”
Each for completely different reasons.
Right now, there was one phrase that came to Sarah’s mind.
『 Crisis, soon be a chance. 』
Right, crisis sometimes creates another opportunity.
At first, when the controversy broke out, she only had one thought.
Ah. Now I’m going to slide down the chart at top speed like going down a slide.
But something unexpected, no, an opportunity came back to her.
[ Billboard Hot 100 ]
No. 1 Look at me – Sarah Stewart
No. 2 Black angel – Sarah Stewart
No. 3 More than just music – Vincent Mah
It was true she had become the target of people’s gossip over the dating rumor and the schedule she had blown off.
But the company’s releasing a vague statement without even consulting her seemed to have piqued people’s curiosity instead.
On top of that, at the fan meeting she had skipped her schedule to attend, the fact that he revealed his face became a hot topic not only in Korea but also led to fans popping up for him all over the United States.
Maybe thanks to that….
“Look at me,” which HS had composed for her, shot up to number one.
And once it became widely known that he had also arranged the track “Black angel” on the album, both songs settled firmly in the upper ranks.
At this rate, she might actually win the bet she had made before.
“100 boxes of misutgaru….”
Just as Sara was swallowing her saliva at the thought—
Ding!
A text arrived. Sure enough, the sender was HS.
It happened so precisely timed that it made her wonder if he had installed a CCTV in her studio or something; he always contacted her at these impeccable moments.
[ I have a favor to ask. ]
That was it? So what exactly was this favor he was asking?
Was he going to ask her to put out a denial article first?
Come to think of it…
Ever since the dating rumor broke, HS had been doing absolutely nothing—no words, no response—to a frustrating degree.
Probably because it was a delicate matter, he had not contacted her either.
‘Wait a second.’
Wasn’t he supposed to be a pretty famous star in Korea, in his own way?
Using an issue like this as a one-off bit of publicity was one thing.
But if it was left to fizzle out like this, it felt like it would have a bad effect on his image too…
“Hm…”
After a brief moment of deliberation, Sara decided they needed to put out a denial article first.
“Right!”
She was just about to move her finger to place a call when—
Ding!
The text she had been waiting for finally arrived.
“Fuck…”
Sara immediately furrowed her brow and shook her head.
[ Could I borrow your SNS account to look for someone? ]
This weirdo….
He seemed to have absolutely no interest in the dating rumor from the very beginning.
Listening to his sister, Hyunseung had a brilliant idea.
It was this:
To contact Mateo through his personal SNS account.
Strangely, the moment Mateo’s name came up, both Austin and Paul were avoiding contact, so he had to go after him directly.
While thinking about it, he remembered that Mateo had once posted something praising him on his personal SNS.
Which meant, he was personally running the account. And since Mateo was a public figure, it would not be that hard to find his account.
There was just one obstacle….
Hyunseung did not have a single SNS account. Nor did he have the slightest desire to make one.
However, if he contacted him from just an ordinary person’s account, or a Korean singer’s account, wasn’t there a chance Mateo would not even look at the message?
Seeing how, in his past life, celebrities around him would not even read a message if the sender did not have a public-figure mark, the odds seemed very high that Mateo would be the same.
What came to mind then was the famous singer of the same nationality as Mateo, Sarah Stewart.
Of course, he could have asked Vincent Mah, but he judged it would be easier to ask Sarah Stewart. (*Because misutgaru works.)
However, contrary to his expectations, Sarah Stewart refused him in an instant.
[ NO. ]
[ 10BOX ]
[ NO. ]
[ 100BOX ]
[ NO. ]
[ 1000BOX ]
[ NO ]
Faced with this blocked reality, Hyunseung hung his head.
‘Did Austin anticipate even this and take measures…?’
If it was going to be like this, would he have to use that method?
Thump, thump, thump!
All of a sudden, from the other side of the studio door, came knocking along with a hurried shout of, “I’m here!”
“Oh, you’re here.”
When he opened the door, Kang Hajun was wiping sweat from his brow, trying to catch his breath.
“Haah, y-you called for me, right?”
He was clearly pretty out of breath, and yet his expression was bright. He looked just like a puppy summoned by its owner.
‘As expected, Kang Hajwi (mouse).’
For the first time, Hyunseung welcomed Kang Hajun warmly.
“You got here fast.”
At that, Hajun answered like a puppy wagging its tail, asking to be praised.
“Yes, I got on the plane as soon as you contacted me.”
“Huh? Where did you come from?”
“From Japan.”
“If you were that far, you should’ve said so. I could have just called someone else.”
Putting on a vaguely apologetic expression which he did not mean at all, Hyunseung spoke.
“No.”
Flatly shaking his head, Hajun continued speaking with the tone of a politician running for office, trying to win the public’s favor.
“365 days, 24 hours, anytime is fine. Whatever it is, please call me first.”
“Ah, okay…”
“So why did you call me? Is it a new song, by any chance….”
Cutting him off mid-sentence, Hyunseung stated the reason.
“Help me out.”
“Yes! Whatever it is, just leave it to me! I can do it!”
It seemed he had come running with the hope that he might get a song from him, and now Hyunseung felt a bit sorry.
That wasn’t it.
“You use SNS, right?”
“Excuse me?”
“Teach me how to use SNS.”
“Ah, SNS….”
As expected, Hajun looked quite disappointed at this request that was completely different from what he had been expecting.
He had flown in from Japan, only to be asked to explain how to use SNS, so of course he would be taken aback.
Still, what could you do?
Of all the Korean instruments (*singers) nearby, Hajun was the one who used SNS the most actively.
“Well, that’s not exactly difficult…”
Quickly erasing the disappointed look, Hajun asked curiously,
“Why SNS all of a sudden? Are you finally going to start actively showing your face and promoting yourself?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“To find someone.”
“Someone?”
“Yeah.”
“If that’s the case, you can just use my account….”
“That won’t do.”
“Why not?”
“I have to contact him from an account belonging to someone he has no choice but to check messages from.”
At those words, Hajun swallowed dryly. Who on earth could it be?
Who was this person Gatches was so desperate to contact that he was willing to go this far just to lure them out?
Whoever it was, it was clear they were someone incredible.
“Make me an SNS account first.”
Wanting to resolve his curiosity about Mateo as quickly as possible, Hyunseung held out his phone to Hajun, urging him.
“As fast as possible, please.”
“Yes, but are you going to use your real name?”
“No.”
“Then will you use HS or Choi Jihyun?”
Faced with this unexpected question, Hyunseung fell into thought. He had simply never thought that far ahead.
“Hmm…”
After a brief silence.:
“Make it as HS.”
Soon after,
Godchis’ first SNS account was created.
(Photo)
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